


Gladiolus Amicitia: The King's Shield

by star54kar



Series: All The King's Men [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Battle Scenes, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, M/M, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27087685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/star54kar/pseuds/star54kar
Summary: A little more than two years into the World of Ruin, Gladio is rescued from certain death.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Gladiolus Amicitia/Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia
Series: All The King's Men [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1977058
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	Gladiolus Amicitia: The King's Shield

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first story in a series of four vignettes that can stand on their own but will tell a deeper story when put all together. This series has been a little over a year in the making and came about as a result of a conversation in my writing productivity group on discord. One of the ladies mentioned a challenge that they had taken part in a long time ago in a different fandom where they had to write a story with absolutely zero dialogue. The idea of the challenge intrigued me and the plot bunny for this series bit me almost immediately during our discussion, so I decided to give it a try.

The truck skidded across the road sideways and sent both its cargo and passengers flying. The driver had pulled the wheel sharply to the left and slammed on the brakes to avoid the sudden spawning of an iron giant in the middle of the road. They all quickly piled out of the truck as soon as it came to a stop and prepared to face the threat before them. Gladio swallowed his nerves as he summoned his faithful greatsword to his hand. While iron giants alone weren’t that much of a challenge for him these days, this was a young and comparatively untested group that he was traveling with. 

Gladio estimated that a little more than two years had passed since the sun had vanished and plunged an unprepared Eos head first into an endless night. Once reliable power sources were now taxed by the strain of having to run daemon repelling flood lights without pause, and an inability for workers to safely maintain the lines resulted in catastrophic power failures all across Lucis. Galdin Quay was one of the first major populated areas to fall in the chaos, rapidly followed by others, until there were only two locations left in the entire nation that had managed to maintain the strain of keeping their power running. 

Which led to why Gladio was facing down an iron giant in the first place. While most of the surviving population now dwelled in Lestallum and the hunters maintained an outpost in Hammerhead, the supplies that these last refuges of humanity needed if they were going to continue to survive were quickly becoming scarce. It was necessary at this point for them to branch out, far away from the relative safe havens that Hammerhead and Lestallum provided, in order to search the ruins of the abandoned towns and outposts for anything of value that could possibly be salvaged. 

Gladio dodged a swipe from the iron giant and countered with a powerful strike of his own. The members of his team scattered in different directions. Gladio did his best to look out for the others, but it was difficult because they were fighting more like individuals that just happened to be in roughly the same place rather than as an effective unit. It was frustrating, distracting, and nothing like the way that he fought when he was with Ignis and Prompto. Even without Noctis, and taking into account the loss of Ignis’ eyesight, the three of them always fought together in a natural rhythm. They instinctively knew the best way to complement each other’s strengths and how to compensate for each other’s weaknesses. 

As time went on however, the three of them ultimately realized that they could cover more ground and potentially do more good if they spread out. Unfortunately that meant that they were spending less and less time together, and more and more time trying to whip complete strangers into shape in the hope that what remained of the general population would be better prepared to face the growing threats that everyone faced nowadays. 

In moments like these, however, with the battle around him rapidly spiraling out of control, Gladio deeply regretted that decision. What started with a solitary iron giant had evolved into a full out daemonic army. Fresh new waves of goblins, iron giants, yojimbos, and red giants spawned before they had even begun to make headway on the previous waves. Hell, the only thing missing from the fray at this point were the fucking Imperials dropping in from above him, and Gladio choked back a bitter laugh at that realization. He was relieved that was at least one thing that he didn’t have to worry about right now. The Imperial forces had long since been out of commission. The few remaining vestiges of the Empire, like Aranea Highwind and her crew, fought with them these days rather than against them. 

Despite Gladio’s best efforts to protect them, the members of his supply retrieval team fell to the enormous onslaught of daemons one by one, until Gladio was the only one left standing against an overwhelming force. With a roar of frustration, he swept his greatsword in a sweeping frontal attack. While the magical impulse either dazed or took out a handful of his opponents, there were so many daemons that Gladio still didn’t even have a moment to breathe before the next wave was upon him. Swarms of goblins were everywhere, thriving in the chaos, and the sneaking, thieving little bastards kept swiping his precious potions whenever he was forced to focus on the larger threats on the field. 

He switched to his power shield in order to block a powerful attack from a yojimbo. He successfully knocked the creature away from him, only to find himself completely surrounded by three red giants that had suddenly spawned around him. Gladio’s eyes widened as all three of the red giants lifted their swords to attack him in unison. He barely was able to raise his shield above his head in time to block the crushing attack, and his shield cracked with the intensity of the blow. Feeling dazed as the red giants prepared to strike again, Gladio frantically rolled out of the way. He seriously doubted that his shield would be able to survive another hit like that. 

He missed Noctis, Ignis, and Prompto more than ever, but those kinds of thoughts were a distraction that he couldn’t afford right now, so Gladio forced himself to focus. He needed to strategize and Iggy wasn’t here to do it for him. This battle was clearly more than he could handle alone, and if he was going to survive, Gladio knew that he needed to figure out a way to get out of here fast. His mind raced through his options as he continued to duck and dodge attacks from the daemons surrounding him.

All of Gladio’s weaponry was so heavy that they slowed him down considerably, but if he dismissed his weapons in order to run he would be defenseless and none of his partners were here to cover his back. Even if he could manage to make his way back to the truck, he wouldn’t be able to drive anywhere because there were far too many enemies on the road. The nearest haven was miles away. He was so completely surrounded by daemons that if he focused his attention in one direction in order to cut his way through, he would be struck down from behind.

He did his best to evade the daemon attacks as he continued to look for a way to escape, but eventually his luck ran out. Grimacing in pain as a yojimbo connected with a thrust at his calf, Gladio crumpled to the ground in agonizing pain as his wounded leg gave out from under him. Desperately, he reached for his last potion and shattered the glass. Gladio let out an involuntary sigh of relief as the healing magic rushed over him, but before he could scramble to his feet again, another red giant was looming above his head and readying a killing blow. With no time to think, Gladio raised his fractured shield above his head and closed his eyes, fully expecting that it would shatter under the force of the attack and that his end would come swiftly after that.

The weight of the expected blow never came. Gladio opened his eyes and stared in astonishment at the ghostly blue image of the Shield of the Just, hovering directly above his own fractured and battered shield. The spectre of the Royal Arm absorbed and then repelled the hit with enough force to send the red giant soaring through the air. Gladio watched in dumbfounded amazement as the rest of the Royal Arms materialized and silently swirled in a wide protective circle around him, holding back the onslaught of daemons before they exploded outwards in all directions. Phantom after images of Noctis, like the kind that he would leave behind after a warp, suddenly littered the field as the full power and the might of the royal armiger was unleashed, decimating every daemon in its path until every single one of them had been defeated.

A single pale blue image of Noctis appeared before Gladio’s eyes for a brief moment. It appeared to be more detailed and tangible than any decoy that he had ever seen Noctis create in the past. Gladio stared at the apparition in shock, scarcely able to believe what he was seeing... but if this was a hallucination, then it was a damn good one. Phantom image or not, Gladio knew that Noctis had saved him. The ghostly image reached out a hand towards Gladio with a desperately sad expression on his face. There was no sound, but Gladio was almost positive that Noctis was mouthing his name. 

Tears stung at the corners of Gladio’s eyes at the sight of his missing king. He longed more than anything to pull him close, as though touching the apparition could bring Noctis back from wherever the crystal had trapped him. He moved to grasp Noctis’ extended hand. An instant before their fingers could touch, the image abruptly shattered before Gladio’s eyes in a shower of crystalline glass and was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are always appreciated, so please let me know if you enjoyed the story. :)


End file.
